March 2010

MINIMUS THE MUSICAL

I am pleased to announce that the première of ‘Minimus the Musical’ will be taking place at Clifton High School on Thursday 1 st July 2010.

For several months, I have been working to write the lyrics for the musical, which like the books is based on a real family who lived at Vindolanda. Many of the characters in the books make an appearance in the stage version! I have worked closely with Bristol composer Christopher Northam, who has turned the lyrics in to a series of imaginative songs, full of beauty and wit.

There will be three performances to choose from; Thursday 1 st July; 1.30pm & 7.30pm and Friday 2 nd July at 7.30pm. Tickets are £8 per adult and £5 for children and concessions.

If you live in the Bristol area and would like to come to see the musical, either on your own or to bring a school group, please contact Joanne Rosser at Clifton High School; jrosser@cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk Tel: 0117 973 0201 for a ticket application form.

LATIN IN LONDON’S CITY HALL

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London has invited me and four other Classicists to be part of a working group called ‘The Classics Round Table’ which is helping to promote the teaching of Latin in State Schools in London. The first event the group organised was hosted by Boris Johnson on 17 th March 2010.

I spoke at a reception in City Hall, on how the Minimus books can be used to teach Latin in schools where it is not usually part of the curriculum. The event was attended by over 150 heads of both primary and secondary schools, all keen to see how Latin could be integrated back in to the school day, be it in lessons, lunch time clubs or after school clubs.

INVESTITURE AT WINDSOR CASTLE

I was honoured to receive my MBE from Her Majesty the Queen in an amazing ceremony at Windsor Castle. I was pleased to tell Her Majesty that Latin is now officially ‘cool’ and she said that was very good news and seemed genuinely pleased! I have sent her a copy of Minimus for her youngest grandchildren.

VISIT TO CROFT SCHOOL, STRATFORD ON AVON

In January I visited The Croft School in Stratford at the invitation of Lisa Chowne. I was delighted to meet the Y6 classes and to talk to them a little about Vindolanda, why I wrote Minimus and how the project has grown. They had some very interesting questions and we talked about the archaeological evidence for Vindolanda. I also had a tour of the school and met Y5 and was able to give them a preview of Latin lessons coming up next year. The children were enthusiastic about Minimus and have created some beautiful work.

SCHOOL VISITS IN THE FUTURE

I have not been able to do much in the way of school visits this year as I have had an increased amount of teaching, but from September 2010, I hope to do more visits and would be happy to visit your school. If you are interested in this, please contact me soon to discuss the details.

BATH LITERATURE FESTIVAL

I enjoyed giving a Minimus Taster Lesson to eager participants at the Bath Literature Festival on 6th March 2010. All the students, both young and old enjoyed learning or recapping their Latin, ending the session with an entertaining cat and mouse chase!

Barbara hopes to be attending the Bath Children’s Literature Festival which takes place between 24 th Sept and 3 rd October 2010. Please refer to www.bathkidslitfest.co.uk for further information nearer the time.

TRAINING DAYS

We have recently held two successful training days, one in London and one in Bristol. Our thanks go to Jane Maguire, Shona Shahryar, Michelle Anderson and Gillian Hylson-Smith for speaking at the training days and imparting their knowledge of teaching Minimus, both in State and Independent Schools, either in lesson time or as lunchtime clubs.

We were especially pleased to welcome two delegates from the USA to the training course in Bristol. They were pleased to see how Minimus was being used in different ways and have now implemented Minimus in to their school in Jackson, Mississippi.

The training days are invaluable to you if you are teaching Minimus and want extra ideas or if you are embarking on teaching it for the first time. The courses are practical and interactive and you will come away with many ideas for teaching both the books.

The next training course is taking place on Saturday 12 th June at James Allen’s Girls School in Dulwich, London. The cost for the day is £50 per person and includes a fantastic lunch! Please click here to download an application form. Or for further information, please email bmbellmini@aol.com and I will be happy to help you.

VISIT TO USA – JULY 2009

Thanks to the generosity of Cambridge University Press, we spent four lovely days in New York. As well as meeting the CUP sales team in their marvellous offices overlooking the Hudson River, I also delivered a ‘webinar’ presentation. I spoke about the history of Minimus and why I believe it is important for young children to enjoy and benefit from Latin. My talk could be heard by teachers all over America; when I finished, they had the opportunity to ask me questions and both their questions and my answers could also be heard by everyone participating. I marvel at the technology! I am grateful to Jim Harmon of CUP for inviting us and setting up these events.

We then moved to Baltimore. Ruth Ann Besse, a member of the PLP committee, had organised several Minimus events, including a training day and drop in session at the local community centre. This attracted more than 100 people, parents and their children.

Finally we moved to Pittsburgh, where we spent four nights with another member of our Committee, Zee Ann Poerio. Again we enjoyed a series of different events; book signing, a tour of a local historic farm house followed by an English tea party and lunch, a presentation in the impressive Carnegie Museum and a Minimus event for children at Zee Ann Poerio’s school. The children and teachers, aged six to fourteen, came for a taster lesson accompanied by their parents. After we had studied the birthday invitation, this lead neatly into the fact that Minimus would celebrate his 10 th birthday one month later. Zee Ann had organised a birthday cake, balloons etc and the children all enjoyed singing happy birthday to Minimus in Latin! Who would have thought when I had the original idea for the book that ten years later I would be enjoying a birthday party for the mouse in Pittsburgh?!

We are so grateful to CUP, Ruth Ann and Zee Ann for setting up an unforgettable fortnight. It has lead to closer links with the USA teachers of Minimus.